Direct damages are equal to the difference in value between the value directly received by full performance and that actually received.
Where a seller anticipatorily repudiates a contract for the sale of goods, and the buyer does not cover, fair market value for damages is calculated at the time the buyer learns of the breach plus a commercially reasonable period of time.
Incidental damages are extra costs incurred by an aggrieved party in dealing with a breach, such as return shipping or time spent finding a replacement.
Incidental damages to an aggrieved seller include any commercially reasonable charges, expenses or commissions incurred in stopping delivery, in the transportation, care and custody of goods after the buyer's breach, in connection with return or resale of the goods or otherwise resulting from the breach.
Incidental damages resulting from the seller's breach include expenses reasonably incurred in inspection, receipt, transportation and care and custody of goods rightfully rejected, any commercially reasonable charges, expenses or commissions in connection with effecting cover and any other reasonable expense incident to the delay or other breach.
any loss resulting from general or particular requirements and needs of which the seller at the time of contracting had reason to know and which could not reasonably be prevented by cover or otherwise; and
injury to person or property proximately resulting from any breach of warranty.
Copyright, The American Law Institute
Copyright, The American Law Institute
Although attorney's fees would conceptually be incidental damages, they are not recoverable unless they are specified as recoverable in the contract, they are granted by statute, or the lawsuit is frivolous or in bad faith.
Subject to the limitations stated in [R2C § 350, R2C § 351, R2C § 352, & R2C § 353], the injured party has a right to damages based on his expectation interest as measured by
the loss in the value to him of the other party's performance caused by its failure or deficiency, plus
any other loss, including incidental or consequential loss, caused by the breach, less
any cost or other loss that he has avoided by not having to perform.
If a breachdelays the use of property and the loss in value to the injured party is not proved with reasonable certainty, he may recover damages based on the rental value of the property or on interest on the value of the property.
If a breach results in defective or unfinished construction and the loss in value to the injured party is not proved with sufficient certainty, he may recover damages based on
the diminution in the market price of the property caused by the breach, or
the reasonable cost of completing performance or of remedying the defects if that cost is not clearly disproportionate to the probable loss in value to him.
If a breach is of a promiseconditioned on a fortuitous event and it is uncertain whether the event would have occurred had there been no breach, the injured party may recover damages based on the value of the conditional right at the time of breach.
Damages are not recoverable for loss that the party in breach did not have reason to foresee as a probable result of the breach when the contract was made.
Loss may be foreseeable as a probable result of a breach because it follows from the breach
in the ordinary course of events, or
as a result of special circumstances, beyond the ordinary course of events, that the party in breach had reason to know.
A court may limit damages for foreseeable loss by excluding recovery for loss of profits, by allowing recovery only for loss incurred in reliance, or otherwise if it concludes that in the circumstances justice so requires in order to avoid disproportionate compensation.
Copyright, The American Law Institute
Determined at the time the contract was entered into
Except as stated in Subsection (2), damages are not recoverable for loss that the injured party could have avoided without undue risk, burden or humiliation.
The injured party is not precluded from recovery by the rule stated in Subsection (1) to the extent that he has made reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to avoid loss.
Copyright, The American Law Institute
Examples9-1
Employer hires employee for two-year contract at $50,000/year, but employer wrongfully terminates him six months in. Employee looks for new job for three months unsuccessfully, then hires an employment agency for $1,000 and finds a new job paying $45,000 per year.
If the employee did not look for work, he could not recover for that time, as there is a duty to mitigatedamages.
9-3
Employer hires employee for two-year contract at $50,000/year, but employee wrongfully quits six months in. Employer looks for a replacement for three months unsuccessfully, then hires an employment agency for $2,000 and finds a temp replacement for $30,000 for three months, then hires a permanent replacement for $55,000 per year.